1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of distributing and collecting documents over a network such as the Internet. The present invention also relates to a method of doing business over the Internet.
2. Problems in the Art
Employee evaluation firms sell, or license, or otherwise market, employee evaluation forms and employee evaluation systems to other businesses. These forms are designed to evaluate potential and existing employees based on traits which “good” employees in the given job position usually possess. In the usual manner, these forms are sold to businesses that utilize the forms to evaluate their employees. The employee evaluation firms may process and analyze the forms for the various businesses. Forms are usually delivered to the businesses printed on paper. Employee evaluation forms are usually either sold to the businesses with independent contractors or through a sales force employed by the employee evaluation firms.
By selling employee evaluation forms to businesses and delivering these forms on printed paper to the businesses, significant costs are associated with the paper production and the shipping of the paper. In addition to the paper costs, the employee evaluation firms give up a significant degree of control over the proprietary information that is embodied in the forms that are sold to businesses. The forms that businesses do purchase also are often not utilized efficiently as many forms are lost before ever being filled out by an employee or are lost after an employee fills out the form.
Employee evaluation firms also face risk by embodying their forms in a paper form and having a sales staff sell these forms. There is a risk that a sales person or staff will use the information embodied in the forms to develop a competing business. In addition, when an independent contractor is employed to sell the employee evaluation forms to businesses, the employee evaluation firm often has little or no direct interaction with the business that is actually using its forms. There is a need in the art for a method which allows an employee evaluation firm to sell its employee evaluation forms to businesses while eliminating the costs associated with putting these forms on paper. In addition, there is a need in the art for a method which allows employee evaluation firms greater control over their proprietary forms. Similar problems exist for any system or method using documents or forms that need to be processed at a remote location.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a network based document distribution method that solves problems and deficiencies in the art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a document distribution method, which reduces the cost associated with distributing the documents in a tangible paper form.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of document distribution, which enables an employee evaluation firm to retain more control over its forms.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of document distribution which assures that more forms are completed by employees and not lost before the forms ever get to the employee to be filled out.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a document distribution method which allows an employee evaluation firm more direct interaction with the businesses that purchase its services.
These, as well as the other objects and features of the present invention, will be apparent from the following detailed description and claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.